reflection: seeing friends before reaching a two-digit age
I don't remember ever being at a loss for something to do with a friend when I was a kid. There was no anxiety over the possibility of failure as Host nor self-consciousness about ideas for entertainment nor the bone-crushing ennui which renders most of my modern-day attempts at recreation colorless.
I guess I was young enough that I still had an imagination I didn't feel silly using, and I didn't realize that someone coming over to my house meant that it was MY JOB TO ENTERTAIN THEM OR ELSE. I could simply enjoy the company of someone whose company I enjoyed. That sounds almost so simple as to be meaningless or ineffectively circular, which is also probably telling. Who cared if it was simple or circular back then? If it worked, it worked.
I wonder how I go about recapturing some of that ease of interaction and nonchalance. These days socializing is something of an uphill climb in the snow both ways.
I guess I was young enough that I still had an imagination I didn't feel silly using, and I didn't realize that someone coming over to my house meant that it was MY JOB TO ENTERTAIN THEM OR ELSE. I could simply enjoy the company of someone whose company I enjoyed. That sounds almost so simple as to be meaningless or ineffectively circular, which is also probably telling. Who cared if it was simple or circular back then? If it worked, it worked.
I wonder how I go about recapturing some of that ease of interaction and nonchalance. These days socializing is something of an uphill climb in the snow both ways.